Composer/performer Mikel Rouse Releases New Album, Gravity Radio, Worldwide November 3; Album Release Concert October 23 in NYC; Tour in 2010. Composer, filmmaker, director and solo performer Mikel Rouse will release his new album, Gravity Radio (Exit Music 1012) on Tuesday, November 3 on iTunes and at all major retailers. He will celebrate with a special album release performance at Galapagos Art Space (16 Main Street, Brooklyn, NY) on Friday, October 23 at 8pm. Mr. Rouse will be joined onstage by his band, special guests ACME (American Contemporary Music Ensemble) and TONY nominated/OBIE Award winner Veanne Cox. New work by acclaimed video artist Cliff Baldwin will be projected throughout the performance. A live performance of Gravity Radio will tour to New Orleans, New York, Illinois, North Carolina, Toronto, Ireland, and Spain in 2010.Gravity Radio features music for string quartet, singers, guitarist, bass, drums and keyboard soaring above and intertwining with ethereal shortwave radio static. Through this texture, a voice (that of Veanne Cox) cuts intermittently with scattershot reports from the AP newswire. The result is familiar and comforting, yet oddly unsettling. (PRWeb Sep 16, 2009) Click here for details.

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10/23/2009 Composer/performer Mikel Rouse Releases New Album, Gravity Radio, Worldwide November 3; Album Release Concert October 23 in NYC; Tour in 2010. Composer, filmmaker, director and solo performer Mikel Rouse will release his new album, Gravity Radio (Exit Music 1012) on Tuesday, November 3 on iTunes and at all major retailers. He will celebrate with a special album release performance at Galapagos Art Space (16 Main Street, Brooklyn, NY) on Friday, October 23 at 8pm. Mr. Rouse will be joined onstage by his band, special guests ACME (American Contemporary Music Ensemble) and TONY nominated/OBIE Award winner Veanne Cox. New work by acclaimed video artist Cliff Baldwin will be projected throughout the performance. A live performance of Gravity Radio will tour to New Orleans, New York, Illinois, North Carolina, Toronto, Ireland, and Spain in 2010.Gravity Radio features music for string quartet, singers, guitarist, bass, drums and keyboard soaring above and intertwining with ethereal shortwave radio static. Through this texture, a voice (that of Veanne Cox) cuts intermittently with scattershot reports from the AP newswire. The result is familiar and comforting, yet oddly unsettling. (PRWeb Sep 16, 2009) Click here for details.

9/2/2009 The Second International Conference on Minimalist Music. In conjunction with the UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance, presents composer and artist Mikel Rouse in a discussion and screening of his films Funding (2001) and Music for Minorities (2004) on Wednesday, September 2, at 7 p.m. at the Kansas City Public Library’s Plaza Branch, 4801 Main St. An alumnus of UMKC and the Kansas City Art Institute, Mikel Rouse has been hailed by The New York Times as “a composer many believe to be the best of his generation.” The films follow two very different narratives, yet are representative of the unique prism through which Rouse presents his amalgamation of musical, visual, and textual elements. Critic Mark Swed of The Los Angeles Times called Rouse’s work “pure sonic entertainment, lifting us all to a higher plane” and contended it “might rightly be called Opera Verité.” Rouse will deliver a brief introductory presentation prior to the screenings and participate in a Q&A session afterwards. Click here for details.

8/5/2009 Merce Cunningham 1919 – 2009. Having been among the last composers to collaborate with choreographer Merce Cunningham, Frank Oteri asked Mikel if he would write a memorial appreciation of Merce for NewMusicBox. Click here for the full article.

4/3/2009 youngARTS 2009. Mikel Rouse was a Guest Master Teacher for the youngARTS Gold and Silver winners. After attending the “In The Studio” Gala Performance hosted by Mikhail Baryshnikov at the Baryshnikov Arts Center, Rouse hosted 15 young musicians at his studio in Times Square. Rouse also invited Sue Devine, Head of Film and Television Music for ASCAP’s New York office, to speak to the students about job opportunities and music licensing issues. To learn more about the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts (NFAA) and the youngARTS program, click here: youngARTS.

3/29/2009 Earth Hour. Rouse was interviewed by the Associated Press as he joined thousands of New Yorker’s in Times Square to observe Earth Hour. From the interview: Mikel Rouse, 52, a composer who lives and works nearby came to watch what he called “the center of the universe” dim its lights. “C’mon, is it really necessary? … All this ridiculous advertising … all this corporate advertising taking up all that energy seems to be a waste,” Rouse said. The AP interview ran in numerous publications including the Huffington Post, Science News and AP International.

3/5/2009 National Consumer Protection Week. On March 5, Rouse spoke at a Press Conference for the Department of Consumer Affairs, TheFederal Trade Commission and the Better Business Bureau during National Consumer Protection Week. City residents have had it with debt collectors. The Department of Consumer Affairs says residents last year filed more complaints against debt collectors than any other type of business. The department says 70 percent more complaints were filed than in 2007 and most concerned debts not owed. This is the first time that gripes against home-improvement contractors did not top the annual list. Rouse was featured in the New York Times, and on New York 1 and Fox News.

10/2009 Center of the Earth Studios. On October 1, Rouse opened his new boutique studio Center of the Earth. Located in Times Square, the studio is equipped for both mixing and mastering. Rouse is currently at work on a new project called Poetry Clocks after recently completing the new radio concert Gravity Radio.
11/7/2008 Thomas Barefoot. In November, Rouse was in San Francisco for the Zellerbach performances of Merce Cunningham’s eyeSpace, with iPod shuffle music, International Cloud Atlas, by Mikel Rouse. The highlight of the trip was stopping by Thomas Barefoot’s studio to see how he puts together the most amazing monitors around. Rouse had Barefoot’s MM27 MicroMain monitors on order for the anticipated opening of his new studio Center of the Earth. Hats off to Thomas for such a well-designed product and his hospitality.
7/2008 Go Yankees. The first presentation of Mikel’s Trilogy in repertory was a resounding success at the 2008 Luminato Festival. See the Press Page for all the news and reviews. After completion of the Trilogy Mikel took a well-deserved rest with spouse Lisa Boudreau (who had just retired after an extraordinary 14 year run with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company). They were invited by their good friends Ed and Max Alstrom to hear Ed play the organ at Yankee Stadium. To their surprise, the photo below appeared on the Yankees Jumbotron. Thanks to Max and Ed and the New York Yankees for a spectacular welcome home!
6/5-15/2008 Luminato 2008. The Luminato Festival will be the first festival to present Mikel Rouse’s epic opera Trilogy for the first time in repertory: Set your sights on Luminato’s many visual spectacles. Mikel Rouse’s multi-media musical trilogy includes The End of Cinematics, a video collage live on stage featuring sharp lyrics, heartbreakingly beautiful music and exceptional performances. In high contrast are Rouse’s solo show Failing Kansas, and his talk show opera, Dennis Cleveland, a stunning fusion of pop, rock and innovative rhythmic structures that transforms a sordid TV formula into pure poetry. See Bookings for dates. 4/25-5/4//2008 Music For Minorities, Mikel Rouse will embark on a UK/Ireland tour of his solo media piece Music For Minorities. MFM mixes an urban aesthetic with Middle American surrealism in a unique approach to storytelling in the media age. – “a quirkily humorous and sometimes more serious take on America” – The Irish Times See Bookings for dates.

1/25/2008 The Stone, Mikel Rouse will present two live sets (at 8:00 and 10:00) of new material at John Zorn’s The Stone. January at The Stone is curated by noted producer Hal Willner. Rouse will present Gravity Radio, a new work in progress, at 8:00. The 10:00 set will present songs from three recent recordings: International Cloud Atlas, House Of Fans and Love At Twenty. This will be Rouse’s first concert performance in New York in more than a decade.

12/4-9/2007 Theatre de la Ville, PARIS, 12/12/2007 Le Mam, REIMS, FR Mikel Rouse will perform his score for iPods, International Cloud Atlas with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company’s eyeSpace. Rouse’s idea was to score the dance piece for the iPod shuffle so that each audience member can have their own unique version of his score. Rouse has called it “the Cage and Cunningham aesthetic on steroids”. (Wired 5/21/07) John Rockwell, writing in The New York Times, called Rouse’s score “the purest realization of Mr. Cunningham’s chance aesthetic, the ultimate in intimacy.” (NYTimes 10/12/06)

11/17/2007 Mikel Rouse to perform Music For Minorities at the Contemporary Arts Center in New Orleans. Check out the Times-Picayune preview here.

10/19/2007 The End Of Cinematics will be performed this October in Costa Mesa at the Eclectic Orange Festival. Click here for the LA Times review

10/16/2007 Three New Re-Releases on iTunes: Mikel Rouse Broken Consort’s first album Jade Tiger, engineered by legendary producer/musician James Mason. Jade Tiger features Phillip Johnston, James Bergman and Rob Shepperson. Mikel Rouse Broken Consort’s second album A Lincoln Portrait features Ellery Eskelin and James Bergman. And at long last, Quorum, music for Ulysses Dove’s Vespers is finally available. Both A Lincoln Portrait and Quorum were recorded by Martin Bisi at BC Studios in Brooklyn.

7/20-21/2007 Mikel Rouse to perform Music For Minorities at the Galway Arts Festival.

6/19/2007 Two New Re-Releases on iTunes: Music to the film Funding and Mikel Rouse Broken Consort’s 1993 release Soul Menu .

6/1/2007 Mikel Rouse and Lisa Boudreau attend the opening of the Luminato Festival.